From genes to farms: achieving Canada's net-zero emission target with innovative OMICS sensors that lower the nitrous oxide emissions from food cropping systems

加拿大农业部门创造了近112亿美元的国内生产总值，雇用了230万人，预计到2025年农业食品出口将从620亿美元增加到750亿美元。然而，农业部门正受到不可预见的成本的拖累。俄罗斯和乌克兰的冲突已经导致加拿大农场的合成氮肥价格上涨了4倍。此外，农民们对加拿大政府于2020年12月发布的气候计划深感担忧。政府的计划旨在限制农场的氮肥使用量，以在2030年之前将化肥中的一氧化二氮(N2O)排放量比2020年的水平降低30%。由于氮肥对于生产优质粮食作物的高产至关重要，加拿大化肥行业和农民团体公开质疑强制限制氮肥的使用是否会减少温室气体排放。农民们正在寻找科学的解决方案，以确保他们不会受到加拿大净零排放目标的不公平惩罚。他们担心政府的政策最终会增加作物生产成本。因此，加拿大家庭将为食品支付更高的价格，农产品出口在全球市场上的竞争力将下降。核心科学问题是，由于农田的直接N2O排放和农田排水中的可溶性N间接排放，在预测种植系统中损失了多少氮肥方面存在不确定性。我们的解决方案灵活、创新、灵活。我们将开发基于芯片实验室设计的新型OMICS传感器，对农田和下游环境中产生N2O的土壤微生物驱动过程进行实时、可靠的农场级评估。数据被传递到施肥设备，以便在正确的时间和正确的剂量为粮食作物精确地输送氮肥。该小组的专业知识(Whalen：农学和土壤科学；Hijri：基因组和分子生物学)得到了与UM6P非洲基因组中心的国际科学合作者的补充。与加拿大农业和农业食品公司和CEROM公司合作进行的补充社会经济评估将确认OMICS传感器是否适合在加拿大农场广泛采用。

Canada's agriculture sector generates nearly $112 billion of GDP, employs 2.3 million people and is anticipated to increase agri-food exports from $62 billion to $75 billion by 2025. However, the agricultural sector is reeling from unforeseen costs. The Russia-Ukraine conflict already caused a 4-fold price increase in synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer on Canadian farms. Furthermore, farmers are profoundly worried about the government of Canada's climate plan, released in December 2020. The government plan aims to cap N fertilizer use on farms to lower nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from fertilizer to 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. As N fertilizer is essential to produce high yields of top-quality food crops, the Canadian fertilizer industry and farmer groups are openly skeptical that forcibly limiting N fertilizer use will lower greenhouse gas emissions. Farmers are looking for scientific solutions to assure they will not be unfairly penalized by Canada's net-zero emission target. They fear the government's policy will ultimately increase crop production costs. Consequently, Canadian households will pay more for food and agri-food exports will be less competitive in the global market. The core scientific issue is the uncertainty in predicting how much N fertilizer is lost from cropping systems, as direct N2O emissions from fields and indirect N2O emissions from soluble N leached into field drainage water. Our solution is flexible, innovative and nimble. We will develop new OMICS sensors, based on lab-on-a-chip design, that give a real-time, robust, farm-level assessment of the soil microbial-driven processes that produce N2O in fields and downstream environments. Data are relayed to the fertilizer application equipment, for a precision delivery of N fertilizer in the right dose and at the right time for the food crop. The team's expertise (Whalen: agronomy and soil science; Hijri: genomics and molecular biology) is complemented by international scientific collaborators with the African Genome Centre at UM6P. Complementary socio-economic assessment, in partnership with Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada and CEROM inc., will confirm the suitability of the OMICS sensors for widespread adoption on Canadian farms.